Modi trying to hoodwink world over IOK issue: Qureshi

Says even some Indians consider their PM’s actions are against their Constitution

NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Sunday said that India was trying to hoodwink the world into believing that normalcy had returned to occupied Kashmir, while the reality was opposite to what Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was portraying.

Talking to the media-persons here, Qureshi said, “Fifty thousand goons of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) had entered IOK armed with machetes.”

The foreign minister said thousands of Pakistanis, Kashmiris, Sikhs, human rights activists and participants from other Muslim countries had converged outside the stadium in Houston, where the Indian prime minister along with US President Donald Trump was addressing a gathering, condemning his illegal and unilateral steps on the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K).

Talking to the media here, the foreign minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan as an ambassador for the Kashmir cause would attend the UN General Assembly session.



“PM Imran will apprise the world body about the ongoing Indian atrocities, and Narendra Modi's unjustified and illegal steps which violated the UN resolutions and the international laws,” the minister added.

The prime minister, he said, would also apprise the United States president that the picture painted by Modi over the IOJ&K issue was incorrect because the situation had not been returning to normalcy rather it had become very critical and that with Modi's further illegal steps, the situation could further aggravate.

Qureshi said, “Even saner voices are rising inside India where a segment of the society considers Modi's acts as violation of the Indian Constitution.”

He said there was no military solution to the Afghan issue, which could only be resolved through a politically negotiated settlement.



“Pakistan will urge all sides to resume the dialogue process soon as further delay can create difficulties in securing peace in the war-weary country and increase prospects for violence,” he said, adding that the Afghans, their government representatives and Taliban should sit and find a peaceful solution.

He said Pakistan had played its role which was acknowledged by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad during his meeting with the prime minister.

To a query, Qureshi replied that a huge number of people had also submitted applications for holding a peaceful demonstration outside the UN building during Modi's address and according to reports, they were given the permission.

Later, Senator Lindsey Graham, one among the four senators who had written letters to President Trump over the worsening situation in the IOJ&K, also met the prime minister.



He was urged to keep raising the issue of innocent people of Kashmir who had been under complete lockdown for the last 50 days.

“The US Congress has an effective role to play for the people of Kashmir,” he added.

Moreover, the prime minister would also meet the president of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), an organisation which was not being allowed to operate in occupied Kashmir.

“The Kashmiris are facing hardships in getting medical treatment, hospitals are running out of drugs and death certificates are not being issued,” said the minister, adding that he had already raised this issue with the head of World Health Organisation.